After a shooting at Chicago’s famous Millennium Park killed a teenager over the weekend, mayor Lori Lightfoot has announced she will institute a 10 p.m. weekend curfew for minors. According to the Chicago Tribune, while there is an already 11 p.m. curfew in place for minors in Chicago’s Windy City, Lightfoot decided to increase that time limit to 10. After Sunday’s announcement that Millennium Park will allow minors to enter after 6 pm on weekends, if an adult is present.
“Anyone coming into our public spaces should be able to enjoy them safely,” she said Monday, calling the weekend shooting a tragedy and adding she spoke to the slain teen’s mother. “Young people are absolutely welcome downtown but in the evening hours they must be accompanied by a responsible adult.”
Many young people are looking for space “to hang out” and are tired of being indoors, Lightfoot said, and that’s understandable. She lamented the chaotic scenes over the weekend, where a teenager was killed and large numbers of teens flooded downtown, causing traffic to swerve and jumping onto cars.
We need to make sure they are safe and importantly that our young people understand and respect basic community norms, respect for themselves, respect for each other, and we must ensure that everyone of our residents and visitors no matter who they are, where they come from… are able to enjoy our public spaces,” Lightfoot said.
The mayor directed some of her comments towards parents, lamenting the fact that preteen children are heading downtown late at night without their parents, and she asked parents to inform themselves of Chicago’s curfew laws.
The city’s curfew laws seem to be as about as effective as their gun laws. Chicago has some of most strict gun laws in America, despite being one of America’s worst places for gun violence. Lightfoot maintains that it is not her intention to round up youth and throw them in jail, but it’s not off the table if young Chicagoans fail to comply.
“Our hope is that example we’ve seen in other instances across the city will hold here in Millennium Park,” Lightfoot said. “My interest is not rounding up young people and throwing them in the back of the wagon. That’s not what this could or should be about.”
“We don’t want to arrest children,” she added. “If we have to because they’re breaking the law, we will.”
Out: In the name of social Justice, arresting demonstrators who set fire to entire neighbourhoods and private businesses.
In: A group of teenagers arrested in their hometown for going out after dark, even though it is peacefully.
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